Ian O'Toole

From Circle Of The Crone

Ian O'Toole

Short description

Gangrel, possibly a member of a bloodline. Mekhet Crones (and other Mekhet, of course) have noticed on multiple occasions that his aura is a black vortex that sucks in the auras of other around him, something that he does not try to hide, and may not even be able to. It's a phenomenon that has been observed in other Gangrel, notably Exodus, but what it means is unclear. Ian joined the Circle of the Crone while visiting "family" on Okinawa, and rose quickly from the Chorus to a full-blown member through dedicated service without regard for his own safety. Has met and safely negotiated with werewolves. Has fought a few demons. He's not fond of the Lancea Sanctum as a whole, since they killed his sire, and he's usually fairly ambivalent towards other covenants. The Carthians are okay when they aren't being obnoxious. Ordo can be good allies if they actually work with you and don't try to compete. Invictus are fine if you let them think they're in charge, but you always have to watch them because they can be dangerous in their quest for more power. The Keepers of the Outlands are new, but they've got a good purpose and are probably in it for the long haul. The Keepers are probably the covenant that Ian likes most, after the Crone, and he fully supports what they're doing. Ian has been observed in mist form, and in the form of a wolf, raven, and a dog. Currently lives in Oklahoma, but has no set place of residence, and has lived on the island of Okinawa, in New Mexico, and elsewhere. He's a Nomad by preference and a Warrior of the covenant. Refers to himself as the "Claw of the Mother Bear", for reasons which may be related to his spirituality as an Acolyte. You're welcome to ask. Seems a lot meaner and more hair-trigger then he actually is.

The Claw of the Mother Bear. Shirt says "Byte Me".

Ian "Running Deer" O'Toole's history

Origins and old news

Ian's history is a long story for a short amount of time, and he readily admits that he's probably lying. His mortal family is old news, all in the past. He lost contact with them before I became a vampire, back in th early 90s when he was in the Air Force. He got kicked out for gambling in the dorms. Despite having broken off contact with his family, they did shape a lot of who he is, and perhaps set the background for his easily settling into the Gangrel unlife. His mortal history is also largely why he eventually joined the Circle of the Crone. His human father was straight up Irish, and that side of the family came over during the Potato famine. His mother was a full blooded Cherokee. Lived in Oklahoma. They met in Tulsa. Yeah, Oklahoma was a boring place to grow up in, and family gatherings were pretty odd, but it wasn't too bad on the whole. His maternal Grandma taught him stuff about respecting the spirits, of nature and other places. His paternal Grandma taught him about respecting the Sidhe, and about his family's Celtic warrior history, and the importance of leaving milk out for the little people. These lessons have been somewhat useful to him as a vampire, and formed the basis for the surprising amount of occult knowledge that he does have.

After screwing up a year of college, he went into the Air Force. Didn't do too badly in there; he was a Personnel troop. Ian had a fairly good thing going, got stationed all over the world, then lost it all. Got kicked out for weekly games of blackjack and craps and poker in the dorms. That was when he was stationed at Luke AFB in Arizona. He couldn't hold a job after that. Had a little bit of money saved away, but not a lot. Got a piece of the casino money his mom's family made, and that was enough to kinda keep him going. He drifted his way up to Vegas, not a far trip from Phoenix. Hitched most of the way. Lot of casinos in Vegas, started at Texas Station. Finished there too. Finished his mortal life, that is. He was playing poker, a game he usually does pretty good at. Maniacal grinning distracts other poker players. There was a "cooler" at the table, showed up after Ian had been winning games for three hours and kinda taking the casino. Despite the cooler causing Ian to somehow lose everything, they hit it off. Hung out all night. Near the end of it, buncha creepy fucks showed up. The cooler, called Isaac, took them all. Did a pretty good job of it, but watching it freaked Ian out. Afterwards Isaac was really low on blood, and Ian was the closest sack of juice. He drained Ian, and once he got his sense back, he felt kinda bad about it and turned Ian into a vampire, a Gangrel. That was back in 1994. I got a bit ticked off at my sire, and left to wander around for a bit. Luckily he ran into his grandsire back in Oklahoma.

His grandsire was good enough to fill him in on pretty much everything, everything about who he is and what Ian is, my Gangrel blood and everything. He taught Ian why Ian's aura is a black vortex that draws in other auras. But that's not a story for common consumption. Many times Ian has had to make a run for it just cause some Shadow caught sight of his aura. The best that happens is he convinces the terrified Mekhet that no, he's really not supreme evil. His Grandsire made sure Ian learned how to hide his vampire nature (he had a friend who owed him a favor), and he made sure Ian knew how to utilize the Gangrel abilities to their full potential.

Ian spent 6 or 7 years roaming through the southern US, always staying a few days travel (as the Crow flies) from his Grandsire. In 2001, he ran into my sire. Ian was enjoying himself as a Gangrel at this point, so he didn't carry a grudge about the dying thing. They played a few games of poker, but Isaac still kicked Ian's ass all over the gaming table. They met back up again in 2004, but that wound up being pretty much the last time. They were in some pissant court in New Mexico, whole lot of stuff went wrong, and someone called us out about the dark "demonic" auras. Ian and Isaac were accused of being Brood. Wasn't anything to be said at that point, so they booked it. Went to crow form to flap their asses on out of there, but the Lancea Sanctum demon-hunters had some asshole tamed Gangrel with them, and motherfucker turns into a hawk. The hawk was going right for Ian, but Isaac nailed him from behind and then dropped like a stone, talons deep in the Gangrel hawk's back. Ian landed soon as he was out of sight, went to wolf, and ran back to see what happened and if he could help. Whole court had caught up by that time, and their Hound put Ian's sire down, sliced him to fucking bits. Ian left, but was pissed. In his own time, he destroyed many of the vampires who had wronged him.

Afterwards, Ian left the area, and went back to see his Grandsire and tell him what happened. He said that Isaac had told him that recently he'd made another childer, some waitress girl name of Jesse. Apparently Isaac had liked her tattoos, and he was low on blood, and she was down on her luck. Since Ian was without immediate purpose or family, except for a Grandsire that usually likes his space, he figured he'd go look for little sis and teach her all the useful stuff he was taught, so she could stay safe. From what he was told by his grandsire, he knew to look for her on Okinawa, and he departed for Japan.

Recent history

The only useful Gangrel I've ever encountered - Malik-Haqim, Hierophant of the Nippon Empire

Upon arriving, Ian soon found Jesse. She was working at a bar run by one of the local established Gangrel, a Dragon named Gabriel. The city was run by an Invictus named Nicholas Barozzi, with Gabriel as Sheriff. Some crazy Sanctum guy was in charge of their group, and a Mekhet named Abdul Malik-Haqim was leading the local Crones. Ian took a quick dislike to Gabriel, who seemed to be falling further and further to his beast, which worried Ian simply because of Gabriel's proximity to Jesse. At first, Ian simply wanted to kill Gabriel, but after hashing things out with him decided to try to give Gabriel some advice on how to find balance with his beast.

Before introducing himself to Prince Barozzi, Ian learned that there was a law in effect prohibiting Vampire travel to and from the island of Okinawa. Ian then declared to the Prince that, for breaking this law, he owed the Prince a life boon and would work for the Prince until it was paid off. While seemingly a foolish move, it ensured that anyone from the US who might be on Ian's trail (because of the vampires he'd recently killed) would have to go through a Prince first. This politically savvy move seemed to impress Malik, and after Ian had effectively done a number of jobs for the vampire leadership of the island, he was allowed to join the Circle of the Crone. He quickly turned his unique and varied talents to the service of the Crone, even putting aside his hatred of the Sanctum to work with them when directed by his Hierophant. Much of his work during this time period focused around a warehouse that was a nexus of paranormal activity.

Evil rituals had been performed at this location, and many parties had been interested in it. These included the former leader of the Sanctum on Okinawa (whose cronies had fired upon Ian and others in an attempt to convince the other covenants of the island to abandon the warehouse), the new leader of the Sanctum on Okinawa (who did not repeat too many of his predecessors mistakes), elder god cultists, mages (both good and bad ones), a werewolf pack, a mortals organization dedicated to combating the paranormal (called ShiroCorp), and four 8 foot tall (or larger) spectral beings with the ability to cause other vampires (but not Ian) to piss their pants and run away. And Ian was there for all of that. A number of times, like when the werewolves showed up, he had to guard the warehouse on his own. That was a crash course in diplomacy with violent deadly furballs. Other times, like when ShiroCorp used an incendiary device on the interior of the warehouse, Ian was there with a group of vampires. The warehouse itself was uninteresting on the exterior, but inside had a hole that went down 75 feet to a massive chamber with 8 "generators" in it, each one with a person somehow fused to its workings. Also inside the chamber was a portal to, as near as Ian could tell, whatever would be most dangerous for whoever was in the room at the time. For werewolves, that meant water. For Ian, it meant painful sunlight when the portal was opened. Fortunately the exposure was very brief, and it happened to other vampires while he was outside the hole. Lucky.

Other things Ian used his talents for included searching for individuals while in crow form, and talking to local animals to find spiritually significant locations. He also performed a great deal of espionage on the Sanctum, with the aid of crow form and mist form. When Prince Barozzi was revealed as a traitor who had tried to use the Brood for his own gains, Ian joined Malik in hunting down the Prince and sieging his holdings. After months of dangerous fun on Okinawa, rising meteorically through the ranks of the local Crones, and after a very impressive battle with "a monster that looks like an oversized unnaturally tough Mind Flayer", Ian realized that his reason for coming to Okinawa, Jesse, was doing fine. Jesse had also joined the Crone, and Ian was certain that she was safe with Malik and Chloe, both of whom were extremely capable. She also was coming into her own as a vampire and a member of Ian's unique family, and was able to take care of herself. Ian decided to leave the island, which was too small for him anyway, and come back to Oklahoma.

Present day

Ian returned to Oklahoma. He heard that Oklahoma City had been wiped out by Brood, and was devoid of Kindred activity. Since he felt like having some space to himself for a bit, he settled down there, living on the outskirts of the city. He kept in touch with the rest of the region via email, but for two months he didn't see another vampire and he liked it that way. Then, suddenly, the Kindred of the city showed back up. Apparently they'd been living low key at the direction of a mysterious benefactor. Ian even found a couple of Acolytes, who he promptly contacted. He found out that while the other Acolyte has skill with a number of rituals, she does not have much experience in dealing with other vampires or in dealing with other covenants. As a result, Ian has decided that he will have to take the lead in strengthening the Crone of Oklahoma City, and doing what he can to strengthen the covenant in the rest of Oklahoma.

Ian was recently selected as Sheriff of Oklahoma City, and as the Hierophant of and Speaker for the Covenant there. He is working with several other Acolytes from elsewhere in the state to start a school for the covenant.

John Nixdorf US2002045756

Rumors and things you might know

• For all intent and purposes, Ian is the reluctant leader and representative of the Circle of the Crone in Oklahoma City. He has frequently lamented this.

• His aura is a black vortex that draws other auras into it. It has been said that it can also suck in astral travellers (like vampires using astral projection), ghosts, and some spirits. Things that are sucked in only enhance Ian's power.

• He is directly related to a number of important Gangrel and keeps in touch with many of them all over the world.

• He once wiped out a city full of Lancea Sanctum, and this is why he had to go to Okinawa for a few months. But he had a good reason.

• He can take the form of a large grizzly. This is probably a recent development.